Throwing away a gift isn't 'mischievous', it's mean.
I didn't mean to imply that throwing away a gift was mischievous, I simply wanted to point out that Link is not perfect. In both OoT and MM, the latter of which he's supposed to be more mature, he's done things that a "nice guy" wouldn't do.
And since Link's a nice guy who will help people without motivation or knowing that person very well, so I just really don't see him doing something like that.
Again, I feel assumptions are being made. While it's true that Link helps a lot of people, we as the audience don't know why he's doing it. Twilight Princess Link seems more selfless as the early events of the game show he will help because of responsibility, not reward. SS Link seems a bit more selfish as he is seen as lazy until the adventure starts where helping someone is always promised a reward. With the Hero of Time, we really don't know. Many kids will agree to help because they want to be helpful, but some will also do it because they want attention or because they think what they're doing is cool. (I didn't want to mow the yard as a kid because I was being helpful, I wanted to do it because I thought it made me more of an adult). I don't think it's fair to assume Link selflessly wanted to help just because he helped a lot of people. Not saying he's selfish, just that it's possible he doesn't understand properly what it means to be mean so he just does what he wants to or what he's told.
And I don't think it's that he 'doesn't understand complicated subjects', but rather is oblivious to the world outside of the Kokiri forest. The Kokiri don't get married, so how would he have any idea of the significance of a 'wedding ring' or marriage? It makes sense that he wouldn't pick up on Ruto's romantic advances, seeing as he was raised by a tree and a race of children. I somehow doubt any of them would be able to educate him about romance. However, I'm sure he was educated on basic morality, and is easily able to differentiate right from wrong.
That is a good point. Link must also not grasp the concept of grave robbing, breaking and entering and more breaking, and other countless things he's done that any normal Person wouldn't (that's not sarcasm btw). But is that much more different than a child's mindset? Most children are oblivious to things they haven't experienced. Can we assume Link understood how much the ocarina meant to Saria when it's his first keepsake? Again, if Ruto said something was precious to her and he left it at the Temple of Time, why can we assume he wouldn't do the same thing to Saria's precious item?
I'm not saying Link simply abandoned the ocarina, but I don't think it's fair to eliminate that as a possibility because he's a "nice guy" when he's done plenty to show that he's not just a nice guy. It's possible that he's just a child with a child-like mindset. He could throw away the ocarina not because he's mean, but because he doesn't fully grasp its concept, like some children dont.
